No Longer a Brother
by Koriat Cyredanthem
Summary: AU. When Mahfuz was captured, he became the humans' pet. Splinter has decreed him unworthy of his training, nothing more than a pet kept for its usefulness. Lycurgus and Raghu have their own problems; Donovan can't keep up with the constant breaking of appliances on top of the special orders he is required to fill. No one is there for Fuzzy, and the bonds of brotherhood are broken.
1. A Typical Day

_I actually RPed these guys a while back, with a friend of mine, LadyKatana. Three years later, I went through some old documents on my computer and stumbled across our boys inadvertently and realized I had never given them a background story… So, without further ado, here they are! With permission from LK, of course! Please let me know what you think!_

_Disclaimer: I only created part of the concept, Lycurgus, and Mahfuz. LK is responsible for many of the great ideas behind them, Raghu, and Donovan. Thanks, hon! I also don't own the original turtles; these are an AU set we came up with to play in the Late Night Chat on Stealthy Stories. _

**Chapter 1: A Typical Day**

"Mahfuz!" The command was crisp, clear – and terrifying. The thin turtle shrank away as his door opened; he shrunk farther into the thin blanket he cowered under. "Time for breakfast." The looming shape in the doorway flicked on the light and stormed away; Mahfuz waited for a moment before emerging from his blanket. His room was sparsely furnished; it had a few comic books neatly placed on the low table next to the pile of rags that served as a bed. The bare light bulb hanging from the ceiling provided enough dim light to leave the corners in darkness.

It also lit his features as he cautiously emerged from his room; he was a male mutant turtle, with blue eyes dark with fear and caution. His skin was a pale green, slightly sickly looking even for him. When standing straight, he stood at 5'2", but usually stood around closer to 5 feet tall. His plastron and shell were a deep brown and unmarred by scars; he wore no bandana. He kept his chin tucked down and timidly scurried into the kitchen.

He could hear his brothers waking up. Donovan was the first one in the kitchen. The second-youngest turtle stood four inches taller than his younger brother and had a darkish green skin. His plastron and shell were scarred, and he wore no mask, either. His eyes were a kind light brown, and he had left his Bo in his room this morning.

Mahfuz was just finishing the bacon when Lycurgus and Raghu walked in together, covered in sweat from a morning workout – or something of that nature. Lycurgus was the alpha male, though the same height as Donovan, he was built along more solid lines. He wore two katanas on his shell, which was a light brown that nicely contrasted his dark gold plastron. His eyes were a rich brown that contained flecks of gold.

Raghu was four inches taller than Lycurgus and had golden-brown eyes with a scar over his left eye; he was heavily scarred on his medium green skin, dark yellow plastron, and medium brown shell. He carried several throwing knives in various sheaths around his body, usually, but this morning only wore his customary pair on his hips. He wore a red bandana around his right arm.

The youngest turtle ducked into a corner, frozen lest his brothers notice him, as the two eldest served themselves, ate quickly, and then left their dishes on the table. Donovan gobbled down a plate of eggs, the two eldest having devoured all of the bacon, and went to tinker in his lab.

Mahfuz toasted some bread, spread a little jelly on it, and ate it timidly as he washed the dishes, watching for someone to enter the kitchen. He then prepared a cup of tea and two slices of buttered toast for Master Sensei.

The youngest knocked timidly at the wooden door, received the allowance to enter, and kept his eyes on the ground as he delivered breakfast to the old rat. Splinter motioned for him to wait until he was finished eating; once he was done, Mahfuz carried the dishes back into the kitchen and washed them carefully before placing them back in the cupboard.

The he began his chores. It was Thursday; this morning he had to dust the lair, make the beds, clean his room – not that it needed much cleaning – and clean the mats of the dojo. He hated Thursdays; everyone complained of the dust, which usually led to being denied dinner. It was hard to judge when it was safe to enter his eldest brother's room to change his bed, and the mats of the dojo were covered with more than just sweat and blood this time of the year.

He began with the dusting, making sure to keep a spray-bottle of water close at hand to keep the dust from getting into the air. Thankfully, he was able to keep the dust from annoying his brothers as he carefully shined everything in the lair, avoiding the lab – under Donovan's orders – and the rooms of his family. He then cleaned his room, preparing himself for the harder chores. All that was required was a small amount of sweeping and mopping. He turned over the rags to get to the cleaner ones on the bottom, spread his blanket out over the rags lovingly, and re-hid the single picture he had of the family, all smiling during happier times.

Taking a deep breath, he finally crossed the hall and walked up the stairs. He shivered but knocked timidly at Lycurgus' door; upon hearing nothing, he opened it slowly. The leader's room was as neat as only Lycurgus could be; dust seemed just as afraid of the alpha male as Mahfuz was. The timid turtle quickly stripped the bed, put new silk sheets and down covers on it, and hurried out. He placed the soiled sheets – he accidentally placed his hand in a sticky patch and winced – by the head of the stairs and knocked at Raghu's room.

He couldn't hear anything beyond the door and opened it slowly. Inside, various weights and barbells lay scattered over the floor. There was a medicine ball in one corner, leaking slowly and covering the floor in sand. The collection of motorcycle magazines littered a corner opposite the sand pile and the smell of sweaty turtle covered the room. Mahfuz quickly stripped the sheets – hardly used, really, but it was his duty – and remade the bed, avoiding looking at the Playboy collection under the mattress.

As he turned around, Raghu's shadow in the doorway engulfed him. He shrank and gulped. "What are you doing?" Raghu asked, his voice harsh from a long workout.

"M-m-m-making t-the b-beds-s-s-s," Mahfuz whispered, clutching the sheets to his plastron. "It's-s-s Thurs-s-sd-d-d-day…"

"Then move it!" Raghu ordered, shoving past the smaller turtle. Mahfuz bolted out the door and nearly tripped over Lycurgus. The eldest smelled of sweat and that smell the two youngest had come to associate with a time to disappear.

Lycurgus disappeared into Raghu's room; Mahfuz quickly picked up the sheets and darted back downstairs. He had escaped punishment – the two eldest were too focused on each other to pay attention to him. Next, he stripped Donovan's bed – easily done, since the braniac was sequestered in his lab – and then took the sheets to the laundry machine.

He set the load to washing and then went into the dojo. He could see the signs of Lycurgus and Raghu's sparring match that had ended as so many did these days. The smell of sweat permeated the dojo, and nothing could get rid of that. However, another smell was beginning to make itself apparent. Mahfuz shivered and picked up the mats, taking them to the stream running through the lair. He dipped each one in the clean water, scrubbed it ferociously, and laid it out to dry. They were old and worn out, but he and his brothers had grown up on them.

Mahfuz glanced at the clock and squeaked in alarm, rushing into the kitchen. Master Sensei was already there, making himself a cup of tea. The rat glanced at Mahfuz with admonishment in his black eyes; the turtle hung his head further, shrinking in upon himself.

"You are late," the rat said in a disappointed tone. "What took so much of your time that you forgot to bring my tea?"

"I-i-it w-w-w…will n-not happ-pen again, M-master," Mahfuz said quickly, trying not to stutter. Their father hated it when his youngest stuttered.

"Speak clearly, Mahfuz," Splinter barked. The little turtle shrunk in further upon himself, whispering apologies. "Do not forget next time. To improve your memory, you may spend the time while your brothers eat thinking about the importance of timeliness."

Mahfuz bowed his head mutely as the aging rat made his way slowly from the room. He then sprang into action; he only had a half-hour before his brothers would expect lunch, and he had been told that chicken was expected. He resorted to an emergency measure – chicken noodle soup. He dressed it up using spices and chopped up a chicken breast to make it seem as though he had made it from scratch.

Lycurgus and Raghu proceeded Donovan into the kitchen; Mahfuz served lunch and then retreated to his corner. Donovan glanced at him sadly; he had overheard Master Sensei's orders and felt bad for his little brother.

Once the three bigger turtles had finished their food, they left. Lycurgus and Raghu went to watch a show on television; Donovan went back to his lab. Mahfuz quickly cleaned up the kitchen again before beginning his afternoon chores. They included cleaning out the fridge of old food – which he was allowed to eat so long as it would not make him sick – polishing the various metal bits and pieces throughout the lair, sweeping every room, and arranging for another shipment of groceries and necessities. His brothers had already given him a list yesterday; on it were such items as new towels. Lycurgus had rewarded him for a good week's worth and allowed him to choose one item; Mahfuz had asked for a pillow. His request had been granted, and he could hardly wait for the delivery.

He decided to place the order first and gently knocked on the door of Donovan's lab. The second eldest answered the door and, upon seen the list clutching in Mahfuz's fist eagerly, smiled and let the youngest brother in. Mahfuz relaxed slightly as the door shut; Donovan hugged him and offered him a granola bar.

"It's not much, but it should hold you until dinner," Donovan said apologetically.

"T-thanks, Don," Mahfuz whispered, nibbling on a corner of the bar. Donovan smiled, kissed him gently on the forehead, and took the list.

"I'll put in the order for you; why don't you get started on the rest of the chores? Come back when you're done." Donovan tried to blunt Lycurgus and Raghu's treatment of Mahfuz, but it was hard. He dared not show open rebellion to his big brothers; Lycurgus was absolute in his role as alpha male, and Raghu was quick to answer a perceived threat to his brother's station.

He was also engrossed with his studies; Lycurgus had ordered him to build a suit for him that would replicate the cloaking of the Foot Tech they fought. It was difficult to replicate the technology when the only samples of the technology they had were smashed, because they had learned that smashing the control button on the Tech's chest would disable the cloaking.

Mahfuz quickly cleaned the fridge, finding a few questionable items that he quickly gobbled down including a slightly moldy piece of cheese and limp hank of lettuce caught in the back of the vegetable drawer. He then began sweeping, careful to time it so he didn't sweep the dojo while his brothers were in there and sweeping their rooms when they went to take a shower.

Mahfuz then put the mats back in the dojo, dry now, and began polishing everything metal except the weapons. Ever since he was young he was forbidden from touching real weapons. He finished with a few minutes to spare and gently knocked at Donovan's door; once again, his brother let him in and he relaxed for a moment.

"I got the list ordered. It will arrive on Monday." Mahfuz sighed silently; he had hoped his pillow would be there Friday. But it was not his place to complain, so he hugged Don in thanks. "I also ordered a special part for Gus's suit." Only in the privacy of his lab did they dare call the eldest "Gus" – otherwise it was "sir" or strictly "Lycurgus."

Donovan nuzzled Mahfuz's forehead gently. "Be careful, Fuzzy," he warned. "Mating season is almost over, and you know how pissed off Raghu gets. Don't give him any reason to get angry. And try not to let Gus see you at all." Fuz nodded; they had survived several mating seasons so far. The first had caught them all off-guard, but since then a system had been put in place.

Mahfuz and Donovan, as underlings in the hierarchy, didn't feel the urge to mate nearly as strongly as their dominant brothers. Lycurgus and Raghu, however, went through the same cycle every season – uncontrollable anger, destructive fury, and finally catastrophic rage. They spent most of the time battling for dominance, but, in the end, Lycurgus always came out on top.

Once mating season was over, all three of his brothers would be more relaxed, Mahfuz knew – they might even allow him a trip outside of the lair. His last trip outside had been over four months ago, long before the month of mating season affected the eldest brothers. Since then, several events – including an argument between Master Sensei and Lycurgus – had prevented Mahfuz from asking.

"Time for d-d-dinner," Mahfuz said quietly. Donovan tilted his head up; Mahfuz winced slightly but didn't resist. The burned mark on the youngest turtle's throat pulled slightly, stretching the zeroes and single one branded into his skin.

"Keep your head up, Fuzzy," Don said in a gentle voice. "It'll be over soon."

Somewhere, buried deep in Fuzzy and only emerging when the turtle was the most relaxed, his old self piped,_ It'll never be over – your brothers will never see you as an equal. Not since… _Mahfuz shook his head slightly and ducked his chin back down, hiding the brand again. Showing it to his brothers would make his oldest brother furious.

The youngest hugged his only friend in the world and then scurried into the kitchen. He cut open a large package of rice – the only possible weapon-like item he was allowed to use being the dulled kitchen shears – and began a vegetable stir fry. At the planning session of the week, Lycurgus had expressed an interest in a vegetarian dinner. Mahfuz wanted the alpha male in the best possible mood tonight.

They gathered around the dinner, the only meal at which Mahfuz was not a corner ornament. Splinter said a blessing in Japanese, Raghu repeated it in English, and then they ate. Mahfuz took very little food; taking more would incite a lecture on the dangers of gluttony when he burned very few calories during the day, not working out as his brothers did. Lycurgus and Raghu ate a lot; they worked out all day and, in the words of Master Sensei, deserved the food for being the dominant males.

Donovan avoided eating a lot as well, since sitting at a computer all day required little energy, if any at all, despite the fact Mahfuz knew he had been lifting heavy parts all day trying to put together the suit Lycurgus had ordered. Master Sensei hardly ate anything, but then he was only four feet tall and a thin as a rail by choice and lifestyle. He drank enough tea to float a ship, though.

Once the meal was finished, Mahfuz cleared the table, washed the dishes, dried them, and put them away. He then cleaned off the table and chairs, swept the kitchen, and took the trash to the trash chute. Lycurgus had told Donovan to put it in so the youngest didn't have to leave the lair to do his chores.

Finally, he was allowed to join the family in the living room for a family activity; Lycurgus declared that they would watch a movie. Raghu chose the movie as Mahfuz made the popcorn and then shifted it through by hand to ensure no hard kernels or burned pieces remained. He made Master Sensei another cup of tea – chamomile this time – and brought the popcorn in bowls. He gave a bowl to each of his brothers and sat on the floor, off to the side where he wouldn't interfere with the movie.

Master Sensei fell asleep half-way through despite the movie having explosions that made Mahfuz wince every few minutes. Raghu and Lycurgus finished their bowls of popcorn and sent Mahfuz for more; Donovan ate half of his and then stealthily began putting the rest in his bag – he had brought it out to continue working on the suit – for Mahfuz later.

Once the movie was finished, Lycurgus and Raghu went off to bed. Mahfuz carried Master Sensei to bed and tucked him in gently before cleaning the lose kernels from the couch and floor, taking the dishes to the kitchen to clean them, and finally stealthily joining Donovan in the lab. They shared the popcorn and watched a few funny Youtube videos together, careful to keep their chuckles as quiet as possible.

They fell asleep quietly together, sharing the one chair in the lab. Donovan was leaning on the desk; Fuzzy's head was pillowed on his brother's shell. The youngest turtle slept soundly; his nightmares stayed well away with the warmth and safety of his brother and friend next to him. At one point, Mahfuz woke when his head slipped; he glanced at the clock and winced slightly. It was nearly 6 PM already; he would be woken by Raghu at 6:30. Quietly, Mahfuz made sure Donovan was comfortable and crept back to his own room, curling up under the thin blanket on the bed of rags, shivering in both fear, cold, and loss.


	2. A Lesson in Shame

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything but Lycurgus and Mahfuz; LadyKatana owns Donovan and Raghu, and the concept we share ownership of. The original turtles belong to whoever bought them._

**Chapter 2: A Lesson in Shame**

"_Keep your back safe, Fuz!" Raghu ordered, pushed himself to his feet. He was bleeding from a cut in one arm, and Fuzzy tried to help him up. The second eldest pushed him back with a growl. "Get your head in the fight!" Donovan laid about with his Bo-like weapon. Instead of a stick, though, the braniac wielded a metal rod with spikes at both ends, sickle-shaped. They brought death as easily as Lycurgus' blades. Lycurgus's razor-sharp katanas whisked quickly through the air, opening throats and disemboweling enemies._

_Donovan cried out in pain as a shuriken sunk halfway into his bicep. Lycurgus sliced the face of Donovan's attacker with a wickedly sharp katana; the ninja fell back. The eldest signaled – the brothers tried to regroup. Mahfuz winced in pain as a black-clad ninja stabbed a short needle into his arm; Raghu saw and attacked the man with a roar. Donovan caught the smallest turtle as he wove unsteadily. _

"_Fuzzy, Fuzzy, stay awake," Donovan pleaded, gently smacking his brother's head. The youngest muttered something, closing his eyes. Don looked up and caught Lycurgus's eyes. "We need to retreat. Fuz is out, and Raghu isn't doing too well, either." Raghu was bleeding in several spots; one particularly nasty gash worried the braniac. The small turtle's eyes fluttered and he went limp._

Mahfuz shot awake as his door banged open and cowered into the corner of his bed. Raghu was in the doorway. "Get up," the second eldest commanded. "It's Friday." Mahfuz gulped. _Training day._

Raghu waited while the smallest turtle made his bed and then escorted him to the kitchen. All of his family was there; he quailed under their collective gaze. Lycurgus watched him carefully; Donovan smiled with his eyes in reassurance. Master Sensei merely gave him that disappointed look Mahfuz was used to by now. Raghu shoved him in through the doorway and went to stand behind their leader.

"It is Friday, Mahfuz," Master Sensei said seriously. "It is time for you to train and attempt to regain your honor." The little turtle shivered. "Lycurgus, Raghu, you may begin the lesson."

The two eldest bowed mutely and hauled Mahfuz away, each holding one of his arms. The youngest didn't protest; he followed meekly. Donovan was set to making breakfast.

"You disgraced yourself and our family when you allowed yourself to be made an animal by the humans," Raghu began once the three were in the dojo. His voice was low, formal – and monotonic. This was a speech Mahfuz had heard every week for the past month. "You forgot your honor and your dignity as a brother to us, a son to our Sensei, and a ninja of the ancient order. You allowed yourself to be owned by the humans and did nothing to retain your pride. This is a crime worthy of a disgraceful death, but in his wisdom, Sensei has granted you your life that you might repair your honor."

Lycurgus rumbled and wove his hands together in a complex sign language only Raghu truly understood. The eldest had been born mute, and over the years had developed his own way of communicating – though the look on his face was enough for Mahfuz. Mahfuz watched carefully as Raghu translated.

"Though you will never again be allowed the title of ninja, you might yet regain your honor and be worthy of your training. You know what you must do – do you have the courage to do it today?" Lycurgus stopped signaling and stared at the youngest brother with a daring look in his eyes.

Mahfuz ducked his head further, shaking. "I… I-I c-c-can't…"

Lycurgus signaled to his second in command; the large turtle advanced on Mahfuz, growling threateningly. "You will defend yourself, Mahfuz, as you could not on the rooftop. You will show us that you have the dignity to stand up for yourself, to push me away. You will show that you are worthy of being our brother."

Mahfuz shrank back, circling away. Raghu threw a vicious punch; the little turtle flowed away from it and retreated into a corner. "P-p-please… D-don't… I… I can-n-n't…" The youngest shook his head; the buzzing in his skull grew louder.

_His head hurt; he put one hand to it and discovered stitches along the side of his temple. Fuzzy explored the stitching carefully; it ran along from his forehead through the back of his neck and then back up and formed a neat circle. He gently probed it; it hurt._

"_Do not touch it," the voice of his jailer commanded. Fuz looked up; the man was in the doorway, holding a taser gun. "We have found you too difficult to deal with using standard techniques for taming a wild creature as large as yourself, so we have resorted to scientific measures." Fuz didn't like the sound of that. "Should you attack me, you will feel a buzzing in your skull. It is triggered by any heightened emotional response in your brain. Fear, sadness, hostility, anger – those will all trigger it. Even intense joy." _

_Mahfuz growled – and his head throbbed. He winced and put a hand over his earhole, trying to block out the sound. "There, you see? It will continue to worsen unless you calm yourself down."_

"You must learn to work through the pain," Raghu ordered. "If you had not been so weak, you would still be what you once were. If you had retained your honor and fought the humans, you would be one of us." Mahfuz didn't let tears – though of pain, sorrow, anger, or fear, he could not tell – fall; he held his breath and shrunk away as the largest turtle advanced on him again. "Attack me, Mahfuz. Show us that you are still our brother and our father's son."

The youngest shook his head vehemently. The eldest growled, grabbed him, and pushed him against the wall. Raghu watched from over his brother's shoulder. "Defend yourself!" Raghu ordered as Lycurgus pressed his forearm into Mahfuz's throat. The youngest turtle choked, coughed, and feebly pushed against the bigger and stronger turtle. It was automatic – but the buzzing in his skull grew so loud it crippled him. He cried out in pain, though the sound that emerged was merely a squeak, and grasped his head, trying to drown the noise. Lycurgus dropped him; Mahfuz curled into a ball, drawing his knees to his chest. The headache pounding at the back of his eyes nearly caused the tears to spill, but with an iron will be suppressed them.

His older brothers watched him with thinly veiled sorrow. "You are weak, Mahfuz. The humans destroyed you and you didn't even have the strength to resist."

Mahfuz whimpered quietly to himself. _It's true, it's true, _he told himself. _You're weak; you're not fit to be their brother. You're not fit to be a ninja or a son or even alive. You can't even fight back when your life is in danger. _

Another part of him said angrily, _You fought! They were too strong and too many! Your brothers failed you! They couldn't rescue you for _six months_; you resisted until you were bleeding and broken. _

Yet another part spoke up, soothingly, saying,_ They were scared. They are still scared. You are the weakest link, and they want to forge you stronger. They do this out of love for you._

Mahfuz suppressed those other selves and lifted his head slightly. Lycurgus was staring at him; Raghu watched him carefully.

"_Do not resist us and you will come to be valued," one of the scientists advised. "You are unique – special."_

You can stick your special where the sun don't shine_, Fuzzy thought to himself, struggling against the restraining belts that held him to the table. He was horizontal; the bright light above him shone on him and left the rest of the room in relative darkness. His pupils were so small that he could hardly make out the white coats drifting about him. _

_The scientists drew samples again – Mahfuz was used to the procedure but continued to fight it every time it happened. He managed to bite one man who examined his teeth; he was able to grab a needle when a young woman tried to inject something into his hand. _

_However, it was useless except as a throwing dart, and his hand was strapped down. Fuz smashed it and dropped it; his hand bled slightly from the tiny pieces of glass embedded in it. _

"_He is too wild," one of the scientists said, watching the turtle struggle. "He needs to be domesticated before we can continue our research. He needs to be controlled."_

"Get up," Raghu ordered. "We will stay here until you can defend yourself." The turtle meant it, too; Mahfuz would have to raise a hand against them eventually or he would fail for another week.

Raghu stalked up to him; Mahfuz retreated until his shell was pressed against the wall. The second eldest put his arms on either side of the youngest, trapping him; Mahfuz kept his chin firmly tucked against his plastron.

"We do this for your own good. You must learn to be strong." Raghu's voice was quieter; Mahfuz glanced up hopefully. "If we can't have the old Fuzzy back, you will be what we say you are." Mahfuz whimpered quietly. He didn't like to think of what he had been – what he used to be to these turtles, before the humans made him into a pet. "Don't show weakness, Mahfuz. Be strong; get away from me. Then you can have the rest of the day to yourself."

Mahfuz glanced up; Raghu growled as the mark on his throat became visible. Of all of them, Raghu least liked being reminded of the youngest's brand. Mahfuz quickly ducked his head again, shivering.

"_He will be the first of many. We can finally test our cloning abilities on a creature of measurable intelligence. We must ensure we can tell him apart, as the primary subject." The voice belonged to his jailer; Fuz shrank away from the cruelty in it. _

"_We will brand him," the scientist assured him. Mahfuz struggled against the restraining ropes as another scientist grabbed his head under his chin and pulled it back to expose his throat. The turtle felt very vulnerable; he was on his back, which was a position all of his brothers and himself hated, and unable to get up or even move. _

_Another walked over with a red-hot poker like the one in the movie _Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron._ This one didn't have "US" on it, though; Mahfuz couldn't quite see the brand and struggled harder. The man holding his head grunted and tightened his grip. Fuz screamed as the hot poker burned the flesh on his throat. The stink of burned skin assaulted his nostrils as the scientist holding the poker moved away. Another human moved in and rubbed cleaning solution over the burned area. Fuz whimpered in pain._

"Ignore the pain." Raghu looked over as Donovan came in, speaking quietly. "Just push him away, Fuz – that's all you have to do." Though the braniac was the most gentle of his older brothers, Mahfuz didn't like it when he joined the training session. He wanted only to think of Don as a friend, but on Master Sensei's orders, they had to make him strong again, and that involved not being his friend.

Mahfuz raised a hand and laid it on Raghu's plastron. The turtle's heart beat strongly; Mahfuz felt it through the tough shell. He remembered nights with his head pressed against that heartbeat, escaping the terrors of his nightmares. That was a long time ago, though; now that heart beat for only one reason: making Mahfuz strong again.

Lycurgus growled possessively; Raghu shot him a glare and then looked back at the youngest turtle. "Just push, Mahfuz. That's all it takes." Though it was not gentle, his voice was quiet – almost pleading. Mahfuz had not yet succeeded in overcoming in pain in his head, and Raghu was losing hope that their brother would ever be more than a cripple.

The buzzing in his skull made Mahfuz's eyes water, but he ordered his arm to extend; the pressure was like that of a butterfly on his plastron, but Raghu felt it and backed up, freeing the youngest. Mahfuz gasped in pain as the arm he had used to push his brother back flared in pain; he pulled it to his chest, cowering, waiting for the blow his befuddled mind knew was coming.

"_You must learn your place, _beast_." The voice was cruel and cold – Fuzzy whimpered and cowered against the wall of his cell. "Raise a hand against me again and the consequences will not be so light." Fuzzy nodded, holding his broken wrist to his chest. It was the result of his latest escape attempt; the human in charge of his care was absolute when it came to disciplining the turtle. His head was buzzing as well, and he could hardly hear the human over the sound of a thousand angry bees stuck inside his skull. _

_He had managed to fight through most of the buzzing, but the jailer had caught him at the end of the hall and effortlessly broken his wrist while the turtle was distracted by an increase in the pain in his head. He had been thrown back into his cell, and his broken wrist would not be tended until he showed a calmer acceptance of his handlers. _

Dononvan was there by his side; Raghu crouched in front of him. Lycurgus stood over all of them. Don gently stroked his shell as Raghu murmured that he had done well, and just needed to continue doing it. Fuz shivered and leaned against Donovan as the pain in his arm started going away.

"My sons." Lycurgus, Raghu, and Donovan looked up; Master Sensei was in the door of the dojo. "Has Mahfuz succeeded in his training today?"

"He pushed me back, Sensei," Raghu answered respectfully. They had all been trained to obey their father absolutely; even Lycurgus was second to their father's rule.

"How hard?"

Raghu hesitated for a moment, and then answered, "Hard enough." Master Sensei frowned.

"I am disappointed in you, Mahfuz. Though that seems to be the only emotion you provoke any more. Continue this lesson until he truly understands." The rat left; Raghu turned back to Mahfuz, sorrow and pain in his eyes. Mahfuz whimpered.

"I'm sorry," Dononvan murmured, helping Mahfuz to his feet. They would never consider going against their sensei's orders; he ruled the clan. "Just do it again. You can do it."

"_Come on, turtle, you can do it._" _Mahfuz glared at the human, ignoring the colorful blocks on the table in front of him. "You have shown signs of increased intelligence. You must be able to create this pattern." The blocks were colored the same way as a drawn set; they were put together to make a ship-like figure. _

"_You can speak. That requires an certain amount of intelligence. Do not trouble to deny it." Mahfuz winced internally; he had forgotten to act dumb when he had first woken up, and once the scientists heard him speak, they insisted on testing him. Raghu would be joking that the youngest brother was as dumb as a load of rocks, but this was a serious matter. _

"_A simple chimpanzee is able to create this pattern. Surely you are smarter than a monkey." They tried goading him, forcing him, coaxing him, offering food and praise, but he wouldn't give in; he refused to speak as well once the grogginess of being drugged wore off and he realized what he had done._

Raghu backed him into a corner again and Donovan tried to coax him into pushing their bigger brother away with more force. "It's purely psychological," Donovan insisted. "That buzzing in your brain can be overcome – you have to be stronger than it. Clear your mind."

Clear you mind, Fuz,_ the turtle told himself. _It only reacts to emotion – so don't feel._ He felt a wash of calm come over him – but being emotional was basically who he was. Fuz enjoyed a few seconds of pain-free existence before a deep feeling of sorrow triggered the alarm in his head and the buzzing engulfed him again. _

_He tried again, harder, squeezing his eyes shut against the barrage of emotions. He was being led out of the cell – _breathe, Fuzzy, breathe_, he told himself. _You are walking out of your room and about to go make breakfast. What's on the menu?_ Though Fuz tried to distract himself, he couldn't hold onto that sense of calm as his jailer spoke again. The man's voice automatically resulted in anger – which led to more mental buzzing. _

"_You will notice that your implant is more sensitive now," the man said. "It will now respond to a wider range of emotions. Science progresses quickly."_

_Fuzzy winced and tried to block out the emotions. He could feel himself – who he truly was – being lost as he pushed down all emotional responses. Lycurgus was the one with the absolute power over his feelings; Fuz was basically a young child at heart, and what is a child if not full of emotions?_

"Push against me," Raghu ordered, trapping Mahfuz again. The youngest turtle hesitated, the buzzing in his skull rapidly bringing back a migraine. "Come on, Mahfuz – push me back." Lycurgus watched the scene impassively. He wanted his younger brother to succeed – it hurt Lycurgus to be so harsh on the fun-loving Mahfuz, but Master Sensei said it would cure him.

Mahfuz rested his hand on Raghu's plastron again. Lycurgus hummed encouragingly; they had been harsh enough on the youngest turtle. Lycurgus thought Master Sensei was wrong – that Mahfuz needed love and acceptance, not being outcast and enslaved – but wouldn't dare oppose their father. Donovan offered encouraging words.

Mahfuz was struggling, it was clear – the youngest turtle was truly trying. Lycurgus couldn't imagine the pain he was going through. Donovan had declared that it was impossible to remove the implant; it was integrated in Fuz's head, and he didn't have the knowledge or equipment for a brain surgery.

"There you go," Donovan said quietly. Mahfuz whimpered and started to draw back; Raghu growled in impatience.

"Push, dammit!" Raghu snapped, bearing down on the smaller turtle. If only mating season was over; Lycurgus knew both he and Raghu were too caught up in their own dilemma to help Mahfuz. Donovan kept a level head during the season, but Lycurgus missed talking late into the night with the timid turtle. Sometimes he could even get a full sentence out of Fuzzy without a single stutter.

He knew Fuz was strong, though; he hadn't broken under the humans, though he had changed completely. Master Sensei had indicated that it was their duty to make Mahfuz strong again, but Lycurgus thought the youngest _had_ become stronger – the eldest knew he couldn't take all the abuse the youngest turtle was given on a daily basis.

Master Sensei had declared that, until Mahfuz had earned his way back into the clan, he would sleep, eat, and even live at the sufferance of the rat's whim. Lycurgus and Raghu were ordered not to interfere, and indeed to enforce those rules; Donovan was mostly left alone to tinker. During mating season, though, only Donovan was able to comfort the youngest after a long day of never-ending chores.

Having had to enforce Master Sensei's laws for the past month had also changed the brothers. Lycurgus was short-tempered and angry all the time; Raghu rarely spoke unless he was giving Mahfuz an order. During mating season, it was much worse; while the two eldest were battling for dominance, they were exhausted and snappish. Donovan was Mahfuz's only support during those times.

Lycurgus breathed in deeply. He could smell that scent on Raghu that made Lycurgus' dominant turtle side want to put the intruder in his place. The eldest could smell the fear and pain on Mahfuz, and the worry on Donovan. His own scent was a mixture of his dominance marker and sorrow.

Mahfuz collapsed and rolled into a ball; Donovan bent over him and massaged his shoulders. Lycurgus could see the tension in the youngest turtle; it looked like the muscles of Mahfuz's neck were trying to break free of his body.

"Leave him." Master Sensei appeared in the doorway; Lycurgus immediately clapped a stoic look on his face and turned to bow to their father and sensei. "He will continue this exercise until he succeeds. He has failed too often." Without any alternative, Donovan and Raghu bowed; they backed up as the rat approached the prone turtle.

"Mahfuz, you will become strong again. You must show that you are able to be a part of this family." Mahfuz looked at the floor, sniffling. Lycurgus felt his heart tear a little more. He never wanted this for anyone; he should have been the one taken by those men.


	3. Rebellion

**Chapter 3: Rebellion**

Raghu watched, clenching his fist behind his shell so Sensei couldn't see it. He had tormented Mahfuz in the past – hiding his comics, giving him noogies, hiding the TV remote for weeks – but he wasn't comfortable with scaring his little brother so thoroughly. He wanted to use his rage on the men that had captured his little brother, but Master Sensei had forbidden any attack on the lab so they could concentrate on "healing" – but Raghu thought this wasn't healing at all. If anything, it was breaking the family up more.

He glanced over at Lycurgus, pushing down his instinct to jump the eldest turtle and initiate a dominance battle. The perfect son – Fearless, Raghu called him when he wanted to provoke the usually calm turtle. Lycurgus was watching Sensei silently, his face carefully blank. Raghu was unsure if their leader approved, but thought that, either way, Lycurgus's sense of duty to their father was stronger than his sense of duty to his brother.

"_Higher!" Raghu pulled himself off the floor and groaned as his muscles screamed in pain. Lycurgus was trying to kick a ball hung straight above his head; he was supposed to kick straight up. Raghu had torn his thigh muscles just a few minutes ago; Sensei had shooed him off to a corner to rest and focused on Lycurgus again. _

_Mahfuz was running back and forth on a beam suspended at waist height, about two feet off the ground. He was covered in sweat, panting harshly; he had been running on that beam all morning. His balance and endurance needed to be enhanced, Sensei insisted. _

"_You are failing, Lycurgus. Higher!" Sensei barked, tapping his tail on the floor. The turtles were only twelve – they were as tall as their father. However, he still towered over them, it seemed. Donovan was in the corner doing one-hand pushups for trying a kata before he was ready. The braniac was the least athletic of the brothers; he trembled in exhaustion. _

Donovan was clearly uncomfortable with the way they had been forced to treat their youngest brother. Raghu heard him and Mahfuz in the lab together until late at night often enough. At first, he had thought that they were trying to get the implant out – but as the days passed with no breakthroughs, Raghu began to realize that removing the thing that crippled their brother was going to be impossible.

"_It's not going to come out," Don said finally, rubbing a hand along the table. Sensei, Raghu, and Lycurgus were gathered in the kitchen. Mahfuz was in his room, as he so often was now. "I can't do the brain surgery it would require – and chances are it's integrated anyway. Even if we did remove it, he's lived with it for months; he would never be the same, and he would probably still experience pain in a heightened state of emotion."_

"_Then we will teach him to work through the pain," Sensei said bluntly. "He must learn to fight and defend himself. This world is not kind to us."_

"_No one knows that better than he does," Lycurgus pointed out. "I just want to hear him crack a joke… Or prank someone… Something to show us he really is Fuzzy on the inside…"_

_Sensei shook his head. "Your brother is gone, Lycurgus. You must all accept that. We must mold a new ninja from the husk of the old. We will instill in him your honor, Lycurgus; your strength, Raghu; your intelligence, Donovan. Until he has proven to be worthy of being your brother again, you will not address him as such." The three brothers glanced at each other, but didn't protest. You didn't argue with Sensei, especially when he gave a direct order like that._

Fuz was no longer the fun-loving, eager little kid he had been before the fight. A few stern lectures from Sensei had managed to keep him calmer for a little while, but within a few hours after any lecture, he was back to pranking his brothers, sneaking out to skateboard, and taunting their enemies. Raghu missed that side of Fuz; he missed _Fuzzy_, their nickname for the young turtle when he was being especially charming.

"_You're too slow!" Fuzzy taunted, whacking the fingers with his studded nunchucks of the ninja trying to grab him. "Come on, I'm supposed to be the turtle here!" The youngest bounced around the battle field on the rooftop trailing insults and jokes made at the expense of the black-clad enemies they faced. Raghu envied his energy; the large turtle was beginning to lose steam. _

_Lycurgus was dancing a deadly dance just as Sensei had taught him; he slipped under vicious cuts and delivered death with the kiss of a sword. It truly was poetry; Raghu admired him for a second while blindly beating the head of a man in with one hand. The skull finally cracked; he felt the bones slide together and released his victim._

_Donovan was in a corner again, slashing with his modified Bo. Sensei had said that he needed a deadlier weapon than a mere stick of wood when Don had expressed interest in learning the Bo, so Don had made a double sickle weapon he could wield with deadly results. Raghu had chosen to specialize in knives of all kinds; from a long as his big brother's katanas to ones so small he could hide them in his palm, the big turtle was dangerous even when he seemed to be unarmed. _

_Finally, Lycurgus slit the throat of the last of their enemies. As the man choked on his own blood – Sensei had taught them to leave no witnesses – they regrouped. Fuzzy chuckled. "Nice, GusGus." The leader whapped him over the head, but smiled all the same. He hated being called "Gus" or "GusGus," but Fuzzy had watched _Cinderella_ recently and it would take weeks before the joke got old. _

"I said, fight back," Sensei ordered. Lycurgus turned away just slightly as Mahfuz whimpered. The eldest had been taught ever since their father had realized he had a spark of leadership in him that it was his job to protect his brothers, to die for them if need be. He had failed his brothers – and his father – when Mahfuz had been captured, leaving Lycurgus to search helplessly for almost six months before finally finding a secret lab.

The eldest tried to ignore Mahfuz's whimpers as their father tried to get him to lash out; Donovan turned around, refusing to watch. Even Raghu looked slightly annoyed. Lycurgus knew his tough brother was all soft inside – that was why he wasn't the alpha male – but the look on Raghu's face was a lot more than sympathy for their youngest brother. It was anger, even fury, at Sensei.

Lycurgus tried to catch Raghu's eye; he shifted slightly and succeeded in getting his brother's attention. He shook his head slightly. _Don't interfere,_ he plead silently. _It will only get worse._ Lycurgus had tried to speak to their father just after his decree that Mahfuz was no longer their brother, which had brought harsh punishment on the youngest brother and Lycurgus himself. The eldest had learned to hold his tongue.

Raghu's eyes tightened – he hated this. Lycurgus understood. He didn't want Mahfuz treated so harshly. Love and acceptance was what their youngest brother needed after being treated so inhumanely by the scientists who had captured him. But Sensei said that making Mahfuz stronger was the only way to prevent such a thing happening again, and this was the only way to do it. So far, there wasn't much strengthening going on; Mahfuz seemed more timid every week.

"Master Sensei…" Lycurgus said carefully during a lull. Mahfuz was catching his breath and trying to gather his wits in a corner, curled in the fetal position. The rat looked up at his eldest son, anger and disgust written in his features.

"What, Lycurgus?"

"Perhaps… If he could be given a short time to recover… He might be better able to respond to your commands," Lycurgus said quietly. It was a big risk – Lycurgus blamed his stupidity on the hormones released during mating season, but then why did it feel so right? He placed the question on a backburner to mull over later; for now, he concentrated on Mahfuz and his father.

The rat stood, thinking, for a moment. "Do you believe allowing Mahfuz to continue being weak will make him strong?" he finally asked. Lycurgus sensed a verbal trap.

"No, Master Splinter. I only wish to offer my thoughts." He bowed, suppressing his urge to exert his dominance. The rat was the truly dominant one in the family, and Lycurgus knew he wouldn't survive a confrontation, son or not. It was quite clear in clan law that disobeying or speaking against one's master was punishable by death.

"Next time, weigh your words carefully." The rat turned back to Mahfuz; Raghu tensed again.

"Stop it!"

Lycurgus couldn't remember the last time Donovan had raised his voice. Raghu and Sensei were similarly stunned. They turned to look at the braniac, who was trembling. Lycurgus kept an eye on Mahfuz, who was still cowering in the corner.

"You're wrong, Father." Donovan's voice shook, but he glanced at his younger brother and took a deep breath. Splinter was too stunned to speak. "Attacking our _brother_, hating him for crimes he didn't commit – that is what is making him weak. _You_ are making him weaker with every "training session" that goes by. You know he is in pain, more pain than we can imagine. But we treat him as though it's _his_ fault that we were made into mutants. As though it's _his_ fault that humans are so inhumane.

"I've had enough. We've tried your way for a month, and we're lucky if there's _any_ Fuzzy left in there." Donovan gestured to the turtle on the floor. "I have been studying PTSD. He needs our love and affection; he needs to be told that what happened wasn't his fault, and that he was strong to resist for as long as he did. I _told_ you he had hundreds of fractures, some still unhealed, when we rescued him – he didn't get those by being _a pet_." Donovan spat the word out in disgust.

Lycurgus rumbled in agreement; the rat turned to his eldest, furious. "Lycurgus, restrain your brother." There was no question _which_ brother he meant. "He will stand trial later, once I have finished here."

Lycurgus approached Donovan – the second youngest looked at his older brother pleadingly. It was a stupid moment of courage that had made him speak up – but he couldn't do it alone. To his surprise, Lycurgus laid his hands on the braniac's shoulders. _You're right_, Lycurgus was saying. It didn't take a complicated three-finger sign language to know that.

Raghu growled and went over to Mahfuz, putting himself between the rat and his youngest brother. "I've had it with your regime, Father," he said darkly. "We're to blame for letting Fuz get captured. We've broken him more deeply than any human, torture, or implant ever could. _Look at him._ He is your _son_. We all are."

"No son of mine would be a human's pet." Sensei drew himself up, livid. "No son of mine would _dare_ speak against his master."

"Is it better to follow your heart or your mind, Father?" Lycurgus asked quietly, signaling – Raghu translated. "You asked me that once. The answer has always been _heart_. I've forgotten that this past month – but I remember now." Raghu leaned over and picked Mahfuz up gently.

"We are leaving." Lycurgus didn't realize it until then, but that had been his plan for a long time. He wanted to leave; he wanted to be able to care for his brothers the way his heart told him he should, not the way his father ordered him to. "Until you can figure out if your heart is in the right place, you will not see us again," Raghu rumbled. He glared at their father for a moment and then turned and marched out the door; Donovan and Lycurgus looked at Splinter and then followed Raghu silently.


	4. Sensing a Trap

**Chapter 4: Sensing a Trap**

Mahfuz trembled in Raghu's arms; the big turtle was worried. He hadn't noticed, but Fuz weighed almost half of what Donovan did. _We've been starving him – what did I expect?_ Because the youngest had always tended to be slightly heavier than his brothers, even 4 inches shorter, because of his diet of pizza, cookies, and soda, Raghu had never suspected that he could possibly be the thinnest. Lycurgus was the lightest of the brothers; he conditioned himself to be like that for better speed and agility.

Donovan sealed the lair entrance behind them and they trudged down a familiar tunnel. They stuck together; Raghu led the way and Lycurgus followed. The eldest was still in a little shock about defying his father and sensei, and knew Raghu had a place in mind.

They eventually came to their first hideout they had stumbled upon as toddlers – it was deeper underground than their current lair, not nearly as big or clean, and covered in rubble. Most importantly, Master Sensei had never known it existed. Lycurgus and Raghu set to uncovering the rooms they had once played in as children while Donovan tried to pry Mahfuz out of his fetal position with gentle words. The youngest finally uncurled, but a blood vessel in his eye had popped from the stress and Donovan was worried. He spoke quietly and convinced Mahfuz that they were safe now, though the youngest clearly didn't believe him. Don sighed; they would all have to work hard to regain Fuz's trust.

"We were so stupid," Don murmured, stroking Fuz's shell. "We didn't realize that we were killing you. We thought Sensei… Father… Splinter… had your best interests in mind. Maybe he did. But he was trying to force you to be something you weren't. We won't do that now. We love you. You're our brother."

"I… I h-h-haven't b-been your-r-r b-b-broth-th-ther in a month-th," Mahfuz protested quietly.

"Nothing could change that. We forgot that for a while, but you are always our brother, and we will always love you."

_This is another trick_, Mahfuz thought to himself. _They're trying to make you forget all the horrible things they've done to you. They want you to be weak; they want you to be attached so they can use you, just like those humans did. You never were a brother; you're stupid, you're childish. They resent having to watch over you for your entire life. _

Fuz tried to push that insidious voice in his head away; tried to push it back to his subconscious. But it was so right; ever since he had gotten home, his brothers – no, these turtles – had been different… They hadn't accepted that he needed to heal; he had been told that he had disgraced himself. If he wanted to be a pet, their father had said, then he would be – he would be a pet to the family, only kept around for its usefulness.

Donovan patted his shell gently and stood up to help Raghu and Lycurgus. Mahfuz realized he wasn't helping and leapt up before he could be disciplined. Lycurgus caught the fear – very muted, but there – in his little brother's eyes as he helped the eldest lift a heavy beam and swallowed. They had a lot of work cut out for them.

"Stay here," Lycurgus said quietly when they had finished cleaning out the rubble and barricaded all but a small hole in the entrance. "Raghu and I will go find food and water and bedding." Mahfuz promptly curled up in a corner; Donovan nodded to Raghu and Lycurgus and went over to try to comfort the youngest and explain that there would be no more orders.

The two elder turtles made five trips back from the lair; Splinter had retreated to his bedroom and didn't try to talk to them as they silently gathered the items they could. They returned from the fifth trip carrying a spare mattress that had been Fuzzy's; the shell of their youngest brother glanced at it in both longing and fear. Sensing that Mahfuz would never lower his barriers with them there, Lycurgus motioned for Raghu and Donovan to follow him back out and led them back to the lair for one last trip, leaving Mahfuz alone.

They returned to find the young turtle curled up on the mattress, clutching a comic book to his plastron. Lycurgus smiled tenderly, finally feeling a little peace reenter his family – his now-smaller family. A small pang of loneliness, fear, and disturbance at realizing that he was truly the head of the family now hit him unexpectedly.

Mahfuz stood up upon their arrival, dropping the comic book like a hot coal and backing up a step. Raghu shook his head slightly in sadness, but the small turtle took it for disappointment and hung his head. "No, Fuz – I'm not angry," Raghu explained. "I'm sad."

"D-d-did I d-do s-s-s-some…s-something?" Mahfuz asked timidly, scuffing a heel on the floor quietly.

The brothers looked at each other. How to explain that they had caught a glimpse of their real brother – and then it had fled and left the timid turtle in its wake? How to explain that they wanted their old Fuzzy back, hyperactive and everything? It wasn't possible – the implant alone made any chance of getting their over-emotional sibling who cried when he dropped a piece of pizza back. Added to that the psychological damage the humans and his own brothers had done to him, and Donovan knew there was going to be a completely different Fuzzy in their lives. But he hoped Mahfuz could become a Fuzzy, a loving, caring, childish brother they all adored and protected from the world.

_Except we couldn't. We were powerless against the humans_, Donovan reminded himself. He had spent countless hours building and then running programs that scanned the internet for any sort of "alien" sighting, reading thousands of articles about weird lights at dusk and green men probing humans. They had finally caught a lucky break – a random e-mail in his inbox one day had suggested that the answers might lie within the secret files of a company responsible for one of the most recent breakthroughs regarding regenerative tissues, Meds4Life. That e-mail had destroyed itself before Donovan could trace it, but it had led him to the company, and then to a file called "Alien Intelligence," and then to a video of his younger brother waking up and _speaking_ to the humans.

Lycurgus finally stepped forward, signaling elaborately. Raghu watched for a moment and then translated in his rough voice. "No, Fuz… brother. You did nothing wrong. It is we who erred."

Mahfuz shook his head. "Th-there w-was noth-thing you c-could d-d-d-do… Th-th… Th-they h-hid me…"

"I'm not talking about the humans." Mahfuz shrunk from the word. "What we did after we rescued you – that was unacceptable."

Mahfuz shook his head, his hand rising to his throat as it often did when he was trying to come to grips with something. "Y-you s-saved me… Y-you're t-trying to make mmme st-stronger."

"You _are_ strong." Raghu spoke for himself now and stepped forward; Mahfuz shifted back and the large turtle stopped. "You're strong than we are, little brother – I couldn't have dealt with that shit for so long."

"Language, Raghu," Lycurgus scolded. Mahfuz blinked; he hadn't seen Lycurgus admonish anyone but him since he had been brought home. Raghu glanced at the leader, eyes lighting – then he simply nodded and looked back at Mahfuz.

"With your help, we'll try to make it up to you," Donovan said quietly to Fuz. "But we have to regain your trust first. You have every reason in the world to hate us… And we can never take back what we did and said. If you never want to see us again, we understand. But we want to be here for you; we want to help you heal."

Fuz looked from face to face, as familiar to him as his own hands – Lycurgus with the gentle sloping brow and stern expression even when relaxed; Raghu with his fiery eyes and scar like a pirate; Donovan's slightly crooked snout from a childhood accident that had broken his jaw. Mahfuz clutched his head as his emotions went crazy. He had loved those faces – they had given him comfort before the humans had taken him, smiling and talking to him no matter what the hour when he had a nightmare. He feared them now – they were responsible for the pile of rags he slept on, for the chores he did, for the training days he had endured. He wanted to love them again – but to love would bring the bees into his skull.

Suddenly a thought occurred to the little turtle. He had been a prisoner of the humans; they had complete control over him, everything but his emotions. And then they had taken those, too, and chained them. He could remember days he went through an PMS cycle – at the drop of a hat he could go from happy-go-lucky to sobbing-on-a-big-brother's-shoulder to comic-ripping-rage. Fuzzy wanted those back, but Mahfuz feared the pain that came with emotion.

Suddenly, lukewarm arms were around him; Mahfuz stiffened and whined quietly, but they didn't go away. "We're here," Donovan whispered. "And we won't ever abandon you again."

Wet tears splashed on Mahfuz and he realized that it was his turn to offer a shoulder for comfort. He looked up at his brother and carefully, haltingly, lifted both arms and bent his elbows to encircle his brother's shell. Light as a feather, he held onto Don – or was Don holding onto him? Mahfuz didn't know, but the sensation of being hugged and actually hugging back overpowered the bees in his head. He smiled slightly, tears of his own slipping between squeezed-tight eyelids.

Another pair of arms encircled the two brothers – they had teased Lycurgus when they were young for having long arms. Fuz unclasped one arm from around Don and gripped his big brother's wrist comfortingly. Finally Raghu joined, and Mahfuz cried in both pain and happiness, silently, as he felt something he had avoided since the implant had been placed in his skull – love.


	5. A Time to Heal

**Chapter 5: A Time to Heal**

Mahfuz clenched his fist tightly. Raghu shook his head and glanced at Lycurgus, who shrugged and looked at Donovan. "Your turn," the second-youngest turtle suggested to the small brother. Mahfuz stared at the board in front of him; the battered metal car was staring out from the bars of jail, with the broken iron suffering rejection on Broadway, having cleaned its owner's bank out paying rent. The dog barked from St. James Place and the ship sailed onto the Mediterranean Avenue.

Finally, Mahfuz released his death-grip on the dice; they rolled a six and a six, with a little help from Raghu who bumped the board with his foot accidentally. Only ninja reflexes could force a random roll to be doubles, but Mahfuz pretended not to see it – though Lycurgus sneakily high-fived the bigger turtle.

"You're out of jail!" Donovan exclaimed happily, also ignoring Raghu's nudge. "Go ahead, Fuz." Fuz picked up the little car and tapped it twelve times down the Monopoly board. He landed on a Chance and drew the top card. He read it silently and then tucked it underneath his neatly-arranged row of bills. Lycurgus watched quietly; the old Fuzzy had piled his money to make it harder for his opponents to guess how much he had, and had always either bragged about or fussed over a Chance card.

Lycurgus mentally smacked himself. _You can't expect him to just bounce back,_ he reminded himself. It was frustrating, though, to have to sit there and try to enjoy a game when the turtle who usually begged them to play a childish board game was as stoic as though they were watching the dust collect_. Even watching dust collect would have excited more emotional response from the old Fuzzy, _Lycurgus admitted to himself.

It was Raghu's turn; he picked up the dice and rolled them, pretending enthusiastically to be involved in the game as he landed on Park Place and bought it. He owned half of the board, to Lycurgus' dismay – and bankrupt status. Donovan was sneakier, having bought a few strategic plots of land and building on them. Mahfuz had yet to purchase something he landed on, though he had been the first on Broadway.

Lycurgus rolled, collected his $200 from passing Go, and promptly paid Donovan that $200, with a loan for $200 to be owed as soon as he had cash, when he landed on Oriental Avenue with its four houses. Lycurgus groaned and dropped his head into his hands as he forked over the fake dough.

They continued playing. Lycurgus eventually got so far in debt, after landing on Free Parking, collecting $590 from the pot and paying Donovan back before landing on Pennsylvania Avenue and owing Donovan another $1400 for staying at the hotel there, that they declared him bankrupt and put his broken iron back at the beginning in pity. Raghu and Donovan battled at the end over who had won; Mahfuz slipped quietly away to the kitchen after cleaning up the board and restacking the money.

Lycurgus found him staring at a Chance card, sitting on the counter. A cold mug of hot cocoa beside him alerted the eldest brother that the youngest had come to think hard. Lycurgus was about to leave when the young turtle spoke softly.

"If only I'd had one of these," Mahfuz remarked quietly. "The humans would have _had_ to honor it." Lycurgus tilted his head questioningly; Mahfuz flipped the card around and showed it to his big brother. The eldest smiled, though in reality he felt like hugging Mahfuz in wild joy. Not only had he not stuttered, but he had make a small joke, of sorts, though a slightly dark one.

"Let's get some hot hot chocolate," Lycurgus suggested quietly. Mahfuz nodded and set the card down on the table. It read, "Get out of jail free."


End file.
